In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child–not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power–the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.
Publisher: Lee Bourdreux
Date of Publication: April 10, 2018
Date Read: April 21, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 400 pages
Source: Book Of the Month (April Selection) Get your copy here.
YOU WILL FALL IN LOVE WITH GREEK MYTHOLOGY HARDER THAN EVER!
As much as I want to prolong the reading experience and the sheer delight that goes with it, I couldn’t. I have come to the inevitable end – and what an epic book this was. Circe rekindled my love for Greek mythology. It has been a long time since I last encountered Greek Mythology stories, reading Circe was the fire that ignited what seemed to be a dormant love I have for it. Now all I crave is to read anything Greek Mythology. I have not read Song of Achilles also by Madeline Miller, I was told it was fine to read Circe even without reading Song of Achilles – and I think I managed well. There are bits and pieces about what happened to Achilles, but it is already a known fact to anyone who is familiar with Greek Mythology, so it’s still all good. Circe easily became a favorite book of 2018.
Now let’s go to the story. Circe is a greek god I knew next to nothing about, reading it was a mixture of excitement and of curiosity. Circe is made of layers and layers of beautiful stories, which can be a bit overwhelming yes, but everything was encapsulated in such a flawless manner. You will get a lot of backgrounds for every character mentioned and their relation to the book in its entirety. This made the book even more appealing. We are taken into this trip down the history of Greek gods, what they are, what they are capable of doing, their roles and weaknesses. Reading Circe is getting more out of a 400 page book, it was so condensed, you have to give your undivided attention to fully appreciate everything. And once you already immersed yourself in it, you’ll notice how everything becomes a distant sound, how you entirely space out completely oblivious of the world around you. That’s one thing a good book could give you, and Circe gave so much more than that.
Circe was an interesting character, a character presented in raw light, a character that was believable. She was nothing but typical. Circe was a league entirely her own. She didn’t give herself the credit that is due her, yet she continues to do commendable things one after another. She was the kind of character you’ll root for, banking on her belief and the goodness of her heart. There are countless of times that her character was put to test, yet without fail she came out of each struggle more resilient and wiser. How she dealt with each circumstance truly made her character stand out. There was this sense of redemption with each time she triumphs even over small stuff, proving everyone wrong. Her character was not liked by almost everyone, for shallowest of reasons or by merely the way she looked, but these things didn’t faze her, if for anything she used all this to fuel her, to keep her going, to claim what is rightfully hers and to defend herself with the power she was blessed with. The story spanned from her early childhood up to hundreds and hundreds of years. Through all this, her character developed so much. You start to be attached to her and the stories transpiring with each milestone. You will learn how she never backed down on anything, how she will firmly stand on what she believed in.
Circe was a character driven type of novel, something I don’t usually lean towards but with this book I made an exception. It was well researched and very well-executed. There was hardly a dull moment in the book. I breezed through it like it was the only thing I am supposed to do. I stopped participating in life for a moment and just completely immersed myself in the story. At first I had inhibitions in reading Circe, you see I have not read The Song of Achilles. In my mind I have this expectation that I would have a hard time easing my way into the story, I feared that it would be difficult to read, but I am amazed by how much the author made the book so easily digestible and not intimidating at all, all things considered I guess that’s what drew me in the most. Most of the time, I shy away from historical fiction genre, fearing that it wouldn’t be able to hold my attention just like other genres I am comfortable reading, but Circe proved me wrong. It was easy to read yet you wouldn’t miss how beautifully written it was – only a few books can do that, and Circe managed to do it really well. And oh, I loved how it ended! I highly recommend!
“I had no right to claim him, I know it. But in a solitary life, there are rare moments when another soul dips near yours, as stars once a year brush the earth. Such a constellation was he to me.”
― Madeline Miller, Circe
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